DIRECTOR of rugby Dean Ryan admitted he was “hurting” after Worcester Warriors crashed to a 32-22 Aviva Premiership defeat against Wasps at the Ricoh Arena.

Ryan labelled it “an opportunity lost” as Warriors surrendered a precious 22-20 lead with two minutes remaining.

Wasps pounced at the death to score two tries, with one converted, to crush Worcester’s hopes and snatch away a merited bonus point for the visitors.

“The end result hurts because, for 75 minutes, we have got that game and we just had to see it out,” said Ryan.

“We were under pressure, there’s no doubt about that, but we still have not got the experience to be able to make the right decisions to close it for either a bonus-point loss or for the win.

“We defended for 75 minutes and we can’t just seem to finish it off.

“I keep saying every week we are frustrated and I am getting pretty fed up with saying it but it’s the overriding emotion of a side who get so close and work so hard but can’t get over the line.”

The Warriors chief rued a decision to attack in the final minute as they trailed 25-22.

“We played advantage in the 85th minute when we should have just taken a scrum because Wasps only had one second row on the pitch and gone for the penalty,” said Ryan.

“We were looking to win a game and sometimes you have to grab those decisions when they are there for you.

“We have got so much emphasis on trying to do things well that sometimes we lose that context of the game. This was an opportunity lost.”

Warriors opened up a 13-0 lead in the first half and looked in control at 22-13 when Andy Symons, who finished with 17 points, struck his fifth penalty after 66 minutes.

Ryan said: “This sport is about winning and we’re not doing it at the moment, so there’s no point in patting us on the back about being competitive.

“We are not winning and have to challenge ourselves to make that transition to be a side that wins.”

He admitted a Warriors victory would have been a huge boost for the club who have won two of their nine Premiership matches so far.

“It would have been a great boost. Winning is what this game is all about and we would have climbed over Wasps,” Ryan said.

He added: “We didn’t come to Wasps with an elaborate game-plan.

“We are on our third-choice 10 and we’ve got changes at nine, 10 and 12, then we lost Tom Biggs in the first few minutes.

“It’s a challenge to be competitive in the Premiership and it’s an even greater challenge to compete against the depth, which some of these sides have got when we haven’t.

“We have played a lot of rugby this season so I don’t think we can be criticised there. This was about trying to get something away from home and we came very close.

“For a side who have come into the Premiership and been stripped of a lot of their first-choice players, we went very simple and looked to frustrate them (Wasps) and the game-plan worked a little bit.

“We talked at half-time about not over-elaborating and staying and waiting for penalties because Wasps were getting frustrated. But we couldn’t keep it going for long enough.”